Equiery World Travelers MDA Irish Trade Mission


by Ross Peddicord, Maryland Horse In- dustry Board Executive Director T e Maryland Department of Ag-


riculture received a grant from US Livestock Genetics Export to embark on an equine trade mission for Mary- land Standardbred and T oroughbred breeders and industry offi cials in June 2018. T ose attending the trip from MDA were Steve Connelly, assistant secretary of agriculture; T eresa Bro- phy, international marketing director, and Ross Peddicord, executive direc- tor of the Maryland Horse Industry Board. Cricket Goodall, executive di- rector of the Maryland Horse Breed- ers Association also attended, as did T oroughbred breeder Jim Steele and Standardbred breeder Garrett Bell of Winbak Farm in Chesapeake City. Steele manages Shamrock Farm in Wood- bine for the Art Rooney family, which also owns and operates Eyrefi eld Stud at T e Cur- ragh in County Kildare, Ireland. Naturally the group visited Eyrefi eld as well the Curragh racecourse. Other stops included visiting the Punchestown Race Course and going to the races at Leopardstown and Fairy House. Vis- its to the Irish National Stud Farm, the Go- dolphin and Aga Khan Studs, as well as the famous Coolmore Stud Farm of the Vincent O’Brien family in County Tipperary were also part of the trip. We were able to see and inspect some of the world’s top stallions, such as Gali- leo and his son Highland Reel. Winbak sells horses as well as genetics to owners


Mongolia • England Ireland • France


important gait, the trot can be developed, and you can’t make anything supple by holding in the same place. He stressed the ideas of stretch, bend, step,


sideways, bigger strides, smaller


strides, etc. He added some tips about how with a hot horse the rider’s legs should stay closer to the horse’s sides but for a lazy horse, the rider’s legs stays away more. For young horses, always stick to three tracks in the shoulder-in because you never want to lose the horse’s rhythm. After watching Carl’s two amazing young


During the MDA Equine Trade Mission to Ireland this summer, the group visited the Rooney family’s Ey- refi eld Stud at The Curragh in County Kildare. The Rooneys also own Shamrock Farm in Woodbine, MD. From left: Steve Connelly, Theresa Brophy, Garrett Bell, Jim Steele, Bill Ferrell (General Manager of Ey- refi eld Stud), Cricket Goodall and Ross Peddicord


and breeders of the Irish harness racing industry. In Cork, the group took in a day of harness rac- ing during which a Winbak-bred competed in the feature race. Most harness racing in Ireland is conducted on the turf. Many owner/breeders attend the Harrisburg, PA, sales and expressed interest in purchasing Winbak’s off erings. T e group also visited the Fernhill sales stable of Carol Gee, who buys and sells three-day event and show jumping hors- es on a global scale. On the day of the visit, US Olympian Philip Dutton was there trying as many as 20 horses. Next, Irishmen David Burns, from the


Irish T oroughbred Marketing Board, and Patrick Diamond from the Irish National Stud will visit Maryland in October. In addition to visiting breeding farms, they will also tour the Fair Hill Training Center and attend the Maryland Million races and Fair Hill International 3-Day Event.


Dressage in England


By Tori Belles T is summer I traveled to Eng- land through the Lendon Grey Dressage for Kids Program to watch the European Dressage Pony Finals. While in England, I also went to Windsor Castle and into the Cathedral where the Royal Wedding was held. T ere we learned what it is like to live and be a royal person. We met British Olympic dressage riders


The MDA Trade Mission group at Goff’s Sales Co. in front of statue of Be My Guest, son of Northern Dancer. From left: Steve Connelly, Theresa Brophy, Ross Peddicord, Jim Steele, Goff’s director Joey Cul- len and Garrett Bell


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Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester. Carl let us see two of his young horses and see how they train every day and what young horses should actually look like. Some of the things Carl said that stuck with me the most were that the canter is the most


Tori Belles and other members of the Lendon Grey Dressage for Kids Program with double Olympic Gold Medalists Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro in England


horses and ponies, we watched the European Dressage Pony Championship. Moritz Treffi n- ger of Germany won gold with a 77%. We were able to take pictures with him and Jana Lang. It was amazing to see how 44 top pony riders rode the tests and to see that even if you make a mistake, you can still receive good scores and go on to win.


It was such a pleasure to be able to go on this


trip. I learned so much that I was able to take home and try on my horses.


continued... OCTOBER 2018 | THE EQUIERY | 39


horses, Carl and Charlotte surprised us by letting us watch Charlotte ride the Olympic gold med- alist Valegro, nicknamed Blueberry. After Char- lotte rode him, we got to take pictures with them. T en we went to see Phoebe Peters at Bromson


Stud, and watched her school Lucci. Phoebe, the 2015 Pony European Champion, gave on how pointers as riders go up the levels riding ponies. Closer to the end of the ride we asked her if we could see her do one of the FEI Pony Tests. It was amazing! After not doing the tests in a long time, she still remembered them. As she was doing the team test, she was giving us pointers, such as when going over centerline, give your reins for a couple of strides. After she was fi n- ished riding, we got take pictures with Lucci and got a chance to wear Phoebe’s gold medals. After watching these great riders train their


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